"This human body is the greatest body in the universe, and a human being the greatest being. Man is higher than all animals, than all angels; none is greater than man. Even the devas (gods) will have to come down again and attain to salvation through a human body. Man alone attains to perfection...In the animal the man was suppressed, but as soon as the door was opened, out rushed man. So in man there is the potential god, kept in by the locks and bars of ignorance. When knowledge breaks these bars, the god becomes manifest." - Swami Vivekananda

Calcutta,
Jan 18: The information on groups of professionals of Indian
origin based in the US is now just a click away as Science
and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal Wednesday launched a dynamic
and interactive website on them.

Launching
the portal, www.piousnetwork.com,
Sibal said there was a crying need to systematise, diversify
and scale up the information available on the diaspora based
in the US and this initiative will address the need.

He
said he conceived the 'idea of developing and continuously
maintaining a dynamic, interactive portal, giving accurate
and up-to-date information of professionals of Indian origin'
during his interaction with the Indian diaspora during his
visit to the US in October 2006.

A
majority of India's diaspora is based in the US and their
dominant position in that country's knowledge sector is legendary.
In the Silicon Valley alone, nearly 500,000 Indian professionals
are working, the minister said.

It
is also estimated that around 50,000 scientists, engineers
and technologists of Indian origin working in the US hold
senior and key positions in various universities and R&D
laboratories there.

The
portal will also help in providing timely information to the
members on important happenings and events in their professional
fields both in India and the US, Sibal added.

The
portal aims to collect data of more than 10,000 professionals
of Indian origin in the US to begin with, he said.